Friday, February 28, 2014

The real hunk of February is Dan Osborne, born in 1991, in Essex, England.

Osborne is known as a cast member of The Only Way Is Essex, the BAFTA award-winning scripted reality television show based in England. He’s also appeared British TV diving competition Splash which features Tom Daley.

Signed by DT Model Management, Osborne also models on the side. He’s shot by photographer Alberto Bruni and Michael Freeby, and been featured on menswear store Banglads.com.

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned and disappointed about the enactment of the Anti-Gay Bill in Uganda.

We strongly believe that all humans share common indivisible rights. The Anti-Gay Law contradicts this universal principle and the Ugandan Commitment to protect the basic human rights of all of its citizens.

We would like to remind the Government of Uganda of its constitutional and international human rights obligations. Having ratified the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Uganda is obliged to guarantee the human rights infringed by the Anti-Gay Law .

Signed by:

Urban Andersson, Ambassador of Sweden

David Angel, Canadian High Commissioner

Alison Blackburne, British High Commissioner

Dónal Cronin, Chargé d' Affaires of Ireland

A Stefano Dejak, Ambassador of Italy

Scott H. DeLisi, Ambassador U.S

Klaus Dieter Düxmann, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany

Dan E. Frederiksen, Ambassador of Denmark

Sofie From- Emmesberger, Ambassador of Finland

Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther, Ambassador of Norway

Alain Hanssen, Ambassador of Belgium

Alphons Hennekens, Ambassador of the Netherlands

Simone Knapp, Head of Office, Austrian Embassy Development Cooperation

Sophie Makame, Ambassador of France

Gisli Palsson, Chargé d' Affaires a.i of Iceland

Kristian Schmidt, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer finally vetoed the so-called "license to discriminate" bill. Brewer said she'd met with numerous people and still couldn't find an example of what the bill was supposedly crafted to defend against.

If signed, it would have allowed anyone to refuse services to anyone, for any reason including being LGBTI, as long as religious belief violations are claimed.

Arizona lawmakers who passed the bill, through both the House and Senate, argued it was needed to protect against cases like one in neighboring New Mexico, where a photographer was penalized for refusing to shoot a lesbian couple's wedding.

Several senior Republicans including Arizona Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, both known for supporting anti-equality measures, said Governor Brewer had made the right call.

Pressure to veto has grown in recent days including from the NFL which was reportedly considering moving next year's Super Bowl from Arizona if the bill were signed into law.

A courageous decision within the Republican Party, increasingly faced to Tea party's supporters.

Anderson Cooper confronted Arizona State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Al Melvin about the bill that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays based on religious beliefs.

Melvin didn't appear to know or didn't want to admit that his state can already fire someone for being gay because sexual orientation is not included in the state's anti-discrimination statutes. Anderson blasted Melvin when he can't say if he believes it is discrimination if someone is fired for their sexual orientation.

Cooper asked: "Can you give me a specific example of someone in Arizona who’s been forced to do something against their religious belief or successfully sued because of their faith?"

Melvin said he could not, arguing the bill is preemptive. Cooper asked him if, hypothetically, a Catholic loan officer could refuse to give a loan to a divorced woman. And Melvin answered: "I don’t know of anybody in Arizona who would discriminate against a fellow human being".

When Cooper pointed out that Arizona businesses oppose the bill, Melvin said it’s "because there has become a media frenzy on this". Cooper incredulously added: "You’re seriously blaming the media on this? Oh, come on!"

Monday, February 24, 2014

Therapists who attempt to "cure" gay teens could be charged with unprofessional conduct under a new bill in Washington state. The bill would ban doctors and licensed therapists from the practice on people under the age of 18.

Heated testimony took place around the bill this week as arguments were heard by a Senate committee. Many of those who spoke at the committee were those who had unsuccessfully attempted the therapy

In 2012, had been welcomed California Governor Jerry Brown’s decision to ban teenagers from accessing treatments that seek to reject an LGBT identity. In the same line, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, also last year signed into law a ban on gay conversion therapy for those under 18 years of age.

The decision hasn't been adopted, but if the bill passes soon, we won't heard more about "sexual orientation change efforts" or "reparative therapy" in Washington state.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The first same-sex couples in Illinois were married, in Cook County, last Friday. Just hours after the U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled that there was no reason for homosexual couples to wait for marriage until June, which is when an Illinois law goes into effect making gay marriage legal.

Then, same-sex couples can get a marriage license in Illinois although the ruling applies only to Cook County. However, gay couples can get their license in that county if they also are married there.

On Friday, only the downtown county's office issued same-sex marriage licenses, but the rest of offices will begin issuing licenses on Monday. For this reason, extra staff will be brought in to cover the longer hours.

Friday, February 21, 2014

New Zealand Rugby players show some attitude in Jockey Underwear photo shoot.

Jockey announced a three-year sponsorship deal with the All Blacks and All Blacks Sevens teams.

There are not many who can lay claim to getting a team of world famous rugby players down to their underwear, but at Jockey they've done just that. As leaders in their field, it's only fitting that All Blacks and All Blacks Sevens choose New Zealand's favourite underwear brand to partner with.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is completely agrees with Vladimir Putin’s stance on gay rights, and he supports his controversial anti-gay propaganda law.

Ecclestone said that Putin "hasn’t said he doesn’t agree with homosexuality, just that he doesn’t want these things publicised to an audience under the age of 18. I completely agree with those sentiments and if you took a world census you’d find 90% of the world agree with it as well".

And he added: "I’ve great admiration for him and his courage to say what he says…It may upset a few people, but that’s how the world is. It’s how he sees the world and I think he’s completely right".

Besides, the 83-year old British magnate doesn't think the Russian laws against LGBT rigths violate the spirit of the Olympics currently underway in Sochi.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Uganda president Yoweri Museveni has affirmed that he is planning to sign into law the Anti-Gay Bill, which would impose lifetime jail sentences for certain instances of homosexuality and would sentence anyone who performs a same-sex marriage to seven years' imprisonment.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Casey Stoney, the head of the England women's football team, announced the team would not attend next Russia and Qatar sport events because gay people are not welcome in those countries. Stoney affirmed they would boycott the upcoming Russia and Qatar World Cups because LGBT people are discriminated there.

Recently, Stoney revealed she is gay to BBC Radio 5Live, as part of a special feature on homophobia in football. She said she was inspired to tell her story following the positive response diver Tom Daley received when he came out late last year.

Activists for LGBT rights said they were deeply concerned by FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively, countries openly opposed to homosexuality.